Dual-purpose self-unloader ship



June 12, 1951 n- 2,557,016

DUAL PURPOSE SELF UNLOADER SHIP Filed Aug. 10, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1June 12, 1951 Filed Aug. 10, 1945 L. D. SMITH 2,55 7,016

DUAL PURPOSE SELF-UNLOADER SHIP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 12, 19512,557,016 DUAL-PURPOSE SELF-UNLOADER SHIP Leathem D. Smith, SturgeonBay, Wis.; Alva. Smith administratrix of said Leathem D.

Smith, deceased Application August 10, 1945, Serial'No. 610,073

4 Claims. (Cl. 214-15) This invention relates to a self-unloading shipand may be described as a dual purpose, selfunloading, bulk materialship.

Some two decades ago applicant invented a self-unloading ship forhandling bulk material wherein tunnels positioned longitudinally of theship were constructed so as to receive by gravity a flow of materialthereinto. The scrapers operating longitudinally of these tunnels drewthe material to one end of the ship from which it was lifted by suitablemeans onto the weather deck and thence to the wharf. The ships have beenuseful in handling coal and sand, which are materials generally piledout in the weather and on the ground so that a long boom conveyor onFigure 1 is a perspective view of applicant's ship;

Figure 2 is a perspective view partly cut-away of the forward holds ofapplicants ship in which are mounted the bulk material unloadingequipment;

Figure 3 is a view looking forward showing the control arrangement ofthe hopper;

Figure 4 is a side view of the hopper;

Figure 5 is a view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4 the deck of one ofapplicants ships can pile such material for a storage period. Theunloading system of applicants ships has not been economical in handlinggrains, cement and such other materials as are stored in elevators. Inthe case of grain, receiving elevators are usually equipped with blowersor belt equipment which may lift the grain directly out of the hold upto the top of the elevator, rendering unnecessary unloading equipment onthe ships and therefore favoring ships having larger capacity due to anabsence of unloading equipment.

In the case of cement, handling is usually by air-tight blower systemsbecause wind blows cement easilyoff of a pile, or a conveyor, etc. andblown cement deposits itself on ship and shore superstructures so as tocreate expensive cleaning problems. For several years on the GreatLakes, bulk cement has been handled principally by expensive pumpequipment installed on ships intended solely to handle bulk cement andin connection with storage elevators.

The object of this invention is to provide an improvement for applicantsself-unloading system which will render it useful in handling cement andgrain as well as coal, sand and iron ore. The feature that attains thisend is the mounting of cement pumps fed by diversionary ducts from theaccumulator hopper adjacent the delivery end of the tunnels. Such a dualpurpose unloader more than doubles the usefulness of the ship as acement carrier, for not only can it serve elevators equipped with cementpumps, but can serve those elevators having only conveyor equipment, inwhich latter case, the cement will be hauled by applicants conveyorsincluding boom conveyor.

The invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings comprising twosheets, and there are two embodiments of the means for controlling thedelivery from the accumulator hopper.

Figure 6 is an enlargement of the control mechanism in Figure 3; and

Figure 7 is an alternative construction for the control mechanism.

Continuing to refer to the drawings, in Figure 1, the numeral l0identifies a bulk material cargo ship, in which are disposed on the holdfloor l2, referring to Figure 2, two tunnels l 4 and 16 which arepositioned in side-by-side relationship and extend longitudinally of theholds of the ship. At the forward end of the tunnels are ramps l8 and 20which terminate at platforms 22 and 24 which contain openings 23 and 25.The scrapers 26 and 28 may be drawn up onto the platforms 22 and 24 soas to discharge material through these openings into the accumulatorhopper 30, which, referring to Figure 3, has sloping side walls 32 and34 terminating in a delivery chute 36. This delivery chute feeds a beltconveyor 38 which, referring to Figure 2, moves upwardly in a housing40, and terminates, referring to Figure 1, in a chamber 42 which isdisposed above the pivotal axis of a boom conveyor 44. The foregoingequipment is used to remove bulk cargo such as ore, coal and sand.

Examining the accumulator hopper 30, and referring to Figures 3 to 5,the walls 32 and 34 are sloped at an angle of 45 degrees so that theyare at substantially right angles to each other. Openings havingparallel upper and lower edges such as 46 and 48 and side edges such as50 and 52, parallel respectively front and back walls 54 and 56, so asto have a trapezoidal configuration are cut in the lower portion of theside walls 32 and 34. A U-shaped plate58 having a rectangular opening 60is mounted over each opening in recessed arrangement thereto. To theinside edges of this opening 60 is aflixed the peripheral edges of aduct 62 which opens into the feed side of a cement pump 64 having adelivery line 66. An angle iron 68 is butt welded to the lower edge ofthe wall 34 and the adjacent side of the duct 62. A trap door 16 engagesthe outer side 12 of the lower part of the wall 34 and the inside of theadapter plate 58 so as to provide a comparatively smooth downward flowof bulk material to an opening 14 from which depends a delivery chute16. This trap door I is pivoted on a shaft I8 which is journalled in thefront and back walls 54 and 56 of the hopper 30. The trap door I0carries along its free edge a reinforcing strip 80 which has its outeredge 82 in beveled alignment with the beveled edge 34 of the trap doorI0, the angle being 45 degrees. A trap door 86 in a similar open.- ing88 is mounted on a shaft 90 which. is in the horizontal plane with theshaft I8.

It is evident that by rotating the two trap doors I0 and 86 inwardly by90 degrees they will engage each other at the point 92 and that in suchengagement, the side edges, of each of these trap doors will closelyengage the inside surfaces of the back and front walls 54 and 56 of thehopper 30. When the two trap doors are the position indicated by thedotted lines 94 of Figure 5, all the bulk material will flow-into thetwo ducts E2 and 96 which lead totwo cement pumps, 64 and 98. On theother hand, when the two trap doors I0 and 86 are in the solid lineposition indicated in Figure 5, the flow into the ducts 62 and 96 willbe blocked and will be directed downwardly through the opening I4 ontothe chute I6.

The mechanical equipment necessary to throw the trap doors l0 and 86 mayassume various forms. In Figure 6, two lever arms I00 and I02 are keyedrespectively to the forwardly projecting ends of the shafts 90 and 18.At their inner ends, each contains elongated slots I04 and I06 which areengaged by a pin I08 mounted on the lower end of a rod I I0. This rod isguided by a block II2 mounted on the outer face of the wall 54 of thehopper 30 and at its upper end carries a rack II4. This rack is held inposition in a housing IIB where it is engaged by a worm II'B mounted onthe lower end of a shaft I20 which carries at its upper end an operatingwheel I22, see Figure 3. As illustrated in Figure 6, the arms I00 andI02 are holding the gates 86- and in the solid line position shown inFigure 5.

An alternative construction is illustrated in Figure '7 where an openingI24 in the side wall 34 is covered by a slidable door or gate valve I26riding in suitable guides such as I28. The door carries a pair of racksI30 which engage pinion gears such as I32 mounted on a shaft I34. Thisshaft carries at its forward end a gear such as I36 which is driven by ameshing gear I38 mounted on a shaft I40. The shaft I40 in turn isoperated by a meshing gear I42 mounted on a vertical shaft I44 held inposition on blocks such as I40 and having at its upper end, not shown, ahand wheel similar to I22 in Figure 3. In this embodiment, the sidewalls of the chute at the bottom of the main hopper, namely I41 and E48,are fixed but the chute itself, I50 is pivoted along its rear edge I52so that it may be raised and lowered to close the opening. At theforward end of this chute I50 projects the fingers I54 and I56 of a yokewhich ride inthe threads I58 of a worm disposed on the lower end of theshaft I44. No attempt is here made to relate the exact size of the gearsto the worm, as this will depend upon the slope desired for the chuteI50 and the size of the opening I24. However, turning the shaft I44 inone direction will cause the gate valve such as I26 to open as; thechute I50 is closed and conversely, turning the shaft I44 in the otherdirection will close the gate valve such as I26 and open the chute I50.The gearing will be related to the worm so that the closed positions ofthe gate valves will coincide with the open position of the chute I50and conversely, the open positions of the gate valves will coincide withthe closed position of the chute I50.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, the delivery lines such as 55 of thecement pumps communicate to deck connections such as 61.

By the, construction thus described, applicant has provided aself-unloading ship that can handle finely powdered material such ascement as well as coarser, material such as ore, coal and sand. It willbe noted that by this construction, applicant can convert one of hispresent selfunloading ships quite easily to a dual purposeself-unloading ship.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and wish tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A self-unloading ship comprising a hull, a tunnel disposedlongitudinally of the inside of the hull, means for admitting into thetunnel material in the hull, a hopper disposed at one end of the tunnel,meansfor moving material longitudinally of the tunnel into said hopper,an opening centrally of the bottom of said hopper, a belt conveyorhaving its lower end positioned beneath said opening and its upper endpositionedv above the weather deck of the ship, a second opening in thelower part of thehopper with a conduit leading to the intake of a pump,and swinging door means adapted in one position to close the openingleading to the pump and in a second position, to close the openingleading to the belt.

2. A self-unloading ship comprising a hull, a tunnel disposedlongitudinally of the inside of the hull, means for admitting into thetunnel material in the hull, a hopper disposed at one end of the tunnel,means for moving material longitudinally of the tunnel into said hopper,an opening centrally of the bottom of said hopper, a belt conveyorhaving its lowerend disposed beneath said opening and its upper enddisposed above the weather deck of the ship, a, pair of laterallyaligned openings in the lower part of said hopper, one on each side ofsaid central opening, ducts connecting said last. named opens ings toforced air pumping means, and two complemental doors so hinged to thehopper that in one position they cover the openings into the pumps andin the other position they cooperate to close the opening to the beltconveyor.

3. A self-unloading ship comprising a hull, a tunnel disposedlongitudinally of the inside of the hull, meansfor admitting into thetunnel material from the hull, a hopper at one end of the tunnel, a beltconveyor and pumping means mounted adjacent the hopper, and means in thetunnel for moving material longitudinally thereof into said hopper, saidhopper comprising side walls, a pair of parallel shafts each mountedsubstantially in the plane of one of the side walls, the front and backwalls of said hopper lying in upright planes intersecting said shafts atright angles thereto, a door mounted on each shaft and having aconfiguration identical to a frontto-back cross section of. the lowerpart of said hopper, an opening in the bottom of said hopper betweensaid shafts, and opening ontothe belt conveyor, an opening in the lowerportion of each of said side walls. and opening into the pumping means,and means for concurrently swinging the two doors on the shafts from aposition where each lies over the opening in its associated side wall toa position where the two doors cooperatively close the opening betweenthe shafts.

4. A self-unloading ship comprising a hull, a tunnel disposedlongitudinally of the inside of the hull, means for admitting into thetunnel material from the hull, a hopper at one end of the tunnel, a beltconveyor and pumping means mounted adjacent the hopper, and means in thetunnel for moving material longitudinally thereof into said hopper, saidhopper comprising side walls, a pair of parallel shafts, each mountedsubstantially in the plane of one of the side walls, the front and backWalls of said hopper lying in upright planes intersecting said shafts atright angles thereto, a door mounted on each shaft and having aconfiguration identical to a front to back cross section of the lowerpart of said hopper, an opening in the bottom of said hopper betweensaid shafts and opening onto the belt conveyor, an opening in the lowerportion of each of said side walls and opening into the pumping means,means for concurrently swing- 6 I ing the two doors on the shafts from aposition where each lies over the opening in its associated side wall toa position where the two doors c0- operatively close the opening betweenthe shafts, and a single control means positively connected by levertrains to each shaft for simultaneously operating both doors.

LEATHEM D. SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 636,774 Edwards Nov. 14, 1899700,789 Lindall May 27, 1902 782,485 Campbell Feb. 14, 1905 1,466,854Smith Sept. 4, 1923 1,603,558 Schneider Oct. 19, 1926 1,708,176 HollyApr. 9, 1929 1,869,970 Kind Aug. 2, 1932 1,942,839 Sheal et al. Jan. 9,1934 2,214,736 Carmichael et al. Sept. 17, 1940

